THE HOLY GRAIL OF CENTS 1909-S VDB updated photos

[waseeker]

Won't try to keep you in suspense. As the title says I found a 1909 S VDB today while searching a bag of cents.

Here is the rest of the story. It's kinda long but hey I don't find one of these every day.

I have 3 branch banks that sell me the bags that come off of their coin counters. Recently the big volume one got a new counter that uses a big bin rather than individual bags to store coin that is run through the machine. I was pretty bummed out about it since my volume is way down. However, a couple of weeks ago one of my favorite tellers from that branch got a promotion to another branch that I never visit because it is out of the way. Anyway, yesterday I had some extra time while running errands and pick-ups so I went by that branch to see what they had. I managed to pick up 2 cent bags and 1 dime bag. The dime bag had 4 silver roosies in it, which is about normal these days so I was pretty happy with that.

I had intended to play golf or metal detect today, but it was one of those Pacific Northwest days where it was raining at home, snowing in the higher elevations and just too darn cold and windy to play golf or detect. So I grabbed a bag on cents and started searching. It was a typical bag and I had found 7 or 8 wheats and put them in my little collection bowl. I found a very worn cent that was wheat side up and as is my practice I put it off to the side to look at when I finished the bag. Soon thereafter I found a pretty nice 1919 and into the bowl it went. Then found another one wheat side up that looked like it might be old so I sat it to the side. After finishing the bag I turned my attention to the 2 that I had set aside. The really worn one was a 1913, so I was happy. Then I picked up the other one and looked at the reverse (without a magnifying glass). I noticed what I figured was a bit of damage at the bottom and flipped the coin over. Staring at me was a gorgeous 1909S. Remembering what I thought was damage and immediately recalling that some of the S VDB reverses have a very weak S VDB, I turned the coin back over and looked at it with a magnifying glass at a slightly different angle. Sure enough there it was. I screamed and yelled to my wife that I had found the holy grail. She humored me by saying that's nice dear and went on with her work

Once I came down from the ceiling I called or texted everyone I know who would be interested in my find. Then I thought time to get this puppy on TN. Of course the battery in my camera was flat, so I posted a quick note about the find in another thread here about the oldest finds among the rare cents. I put the battery in the charger and tried to get a few other things done. After about an hour I checked the charger and the charged light still wasn't on so not wanting to rush things, I went out to run my errands and came back a couple of hours later figuring that the battery would be charged. The charged light still wasn't on, but I figured it had enough charge by now so that I could get a couple of pics taken. Turns out the battery wasn't flat it was DEAD. I tried another camera, but couldn't get a close enough focus for a good pic. So now I'm really p*ssed, so I go to the Sony website to see if they even still stock a battery for this camera. ( it is an old Mavica that uses 3.5" disks as the recording media). They did have the battery so I ordered one. At about the same time I pressed the purchase button on the Sony site I thought maybe Batteries Plus would have one. So I went to their web site and sure enough there it was. Called the local store to inquire and they had it in stock. They did so it was back in the car for a 15 mile trip to the area where I had just been running errands to pick up a battery. Of course all the way there and back I'm hoping some idiot doesn't hit me or that I don't have a heart attack or car trouble because I was so excited to get the battery and be able to post the pic.

So here is the pic. As you can see the VDB is kinda faint when looking straight at the reverse. But, one of the known reverses is referred to as the faint VDB. You can see it a bit better in the partial pic.

 

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[diggummup]

It's a bit different here, our Manarch has been on the thrown for nearly 60 years, and there have been many changes, the last silver coins were in the pounds, shilling and pence system, and were quickly removed from circulation when the decimal coinage came in. You will never get a silver coin from our banks, or anywere else and they would not be legal tender.

SS

One more reason to love US! We can get silver coins from our banks at face!
[/quote]Maybe...but you should see what's buried here, 2000 years of lost coinage
[/quote]Not to mention the Treasure Act to boot!

 

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[waseeker]

Thats a amazing find! Can you post come close ups of the date/mm area? There are some diagnostics for this particular coin and this one being so rare is heavily counterfited. There are 3 possible variants to the 1909 S VDB and no more.

Unfortunately I don't have it available for any more pics right now. It is en-route to PCGS for authentication and grading.

The 3 diagnostics that I look for on an 09S VDB are:

1. Is crossbar of the B in VDB slanted upwards (not horizontal)
2. The serifs of the mintmark are upright and parallel to each other.
3. There is often times a small die chip in the upper loop of the S in the mintmark.

Mine meets 1 & 2. There is grime in the mintmark so I couldn't determine if the die chip is present.

Then of course there are general things to look at such as does the mint mark have the same wear pattern as the date, is the color around the mint mark consistent with the rest of the coin, is the mint mark the same height as the date and are there any scratches or other evidence of tooling around the mint mark. And finally the position of the mint mark in relation to the date can be another tell tale for determining authenticity. Both my coin dealer and I have a high degree of certainly that it is genuine. We'll know for sure in a couple of weeks.

what diagnostics are you referring to if they are different than what I use?

 

[diggummup]

Thats a amazing find! Can you post come close ups of the date/mm area? There are some diagnostics for this particular coin and this one being so rare is heavily counterfited. There are 3 possible variants to the 1909 S VDB and no more.

Unfortunately I don't have it available for any more pics right now. It is en-route to PCGS for authentication and grading.

The 3 diagnostics that I look for on an 09S VDB are:

1. Is crossbar of the B in VDB slanted upwards (not horizontal)
2. The serifs of the mintmark are upright and parallel to each other.
3. There is often times a small die chip in the upper loop of the S in the mintmark.

Mine meets 1 & 2. There is grime in the mintmark so I couldn't determine if the die chip is present.

Then of course there are general things to look at such as does the mint mark have the same wear pattern as the date, is the color around the mint mark consistent with the rest of the coin, is the mint mark the same height as the date and are there any scratches or other evidence of tooling around the mint mark. And finally the position of the mint mark in relation to the date can be another tell tale for determining authenticity. Both my coin dealer and I have a high degree of certainly that it is genuine. We'll know for sure in a couple of weeks.

what diagnostics are you referring to if they are different than what I use?

Fill us in when it gets back as to grade given. Thanks.

 

[thurmownator]

Mucho kudos on a truly remarkable find !

 

[MR Senior L4S]

we from Illinois found

Why is this Banner. I thought this was a Treasure Hunting site, and banner finds came from hunting It may be a scarse coin, but if I go out and buy a scarse saxon coin, I wouldn't expect to make the banner.

Having said that weldone on a rare score....just a shame it never came under the coil.//////////////////// Yes it is nice !!!!Wefrom Illinois found 3- of them under coil posted !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[maine_Jim]

- congrats on the great find!
Banner - hell yea!

Maine_Jim

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Absolutely fantastic find!

Your find had me running around town today trying to scrounge up a bag of cents.

 

[snakeyes]

I'm copying a picture of your find and putting it in coin collection, as thats as close as I my ever get to actually seeing one congratulations

 

[sagittarius98]

It's a bit different here, our Manarch has been on the thrown for nearly 60 years, and there have been many changes, the last silver coins were in the pounds, shilling and pence system, and were quickly removed from circulation when the decimal coinage came in. You will never get a silver coin from our banks, or anywere else and they would not be legal tender.

SS

One more reason to love US! We can get silver coins from our banks at face!

Maybe...but you should see what's buried here, 2000 years of lost coinage
[/quote]Not to mention the Treasure Act to boot!
[/quote]

You can hunt in Scotland without problems.

 

[Silver Searcher]

It's a bit different here, our Manarch has been on the thrown for nearly 60 years, and there have been many changes, the last silver coins were in the pounds, shilling and pence system, and were quickly removed from circulation when the decimal coinage came in. You will never get a silver coin from our banks, or anywere else and they would not be legal tender.

SS

One more reason to love US! We can get silver coins from our banks at face!

Maybe...but you should see what's buried here, 2000 years of lost coinage

Not to mention the Treasure Act to boot!
[/quote]

You can hunt in Scotland without problems.
[/quote]You can here to, I don't know why people are mentioning the Treasure act it only covers certaine aspects of detecting.

SS

 

[mfitzy111]

wow - that is the best! great find! please post a pic of it once it's slabbed.

maybe I'll do pennies again soon... as a kid I had all of them but this coin...that set was also stolen - encourages me to keep working on my set this year, hopefully before the penny becomes a legend.

Congrats again on the great king of all wheaties!!!!

 

[sagittarius98]

It's a bit different here, our Manarch has been on the thrown for nearly 60 years, and there have been many changes, the last silver coins were in the pounds, shilling and pence system, and were quickly removed from circulation when the decimal coinage came in. You will never get a silver coin from our banks, or anywere else and they would not be legal tender.

SS

One more reason to love US! We can get silver coins from our banks at face!

Maybe...but you should see what's buried here, 2000 years of lost coinage

Not to mention the Treasure Act to boot!

You can hunt in Scotland without problems.
[/quote]You can here to, I don't know why people are mentioning the Treasure act it only covers certaine aspects of detecting.

SS
[/quote]

If you find something great, there might be a problem.

 

[Breezie]

SUPER SUPER great find!!! Way to go!!! Breezie

 

[allen]

That is a awesome find congrats on it and the banner !!!!

 

[Aka Nameless]

Why is this Banner. I thought this was a Treasure Hunting site, and banner finds came from hunting It may be a scarse coin, but if I go out and buy a scarse saxon coin, I wouldn't expect to make the banner.

Having said that weldone on a rare score....just a shame it never came under the coil.

SS

He didn't go out and "buy" this coin for one. If by "buy" then you mean purchased for face value then I'd go for it. I am slighty offended you don't consider our "urban" form of treasure hunting valid. This site is more than just Metal Dectecting. You should try it sometime, I'm sure there are some old silver british pounds floating around over that way.


Just because we aren't swinging a coil to find treasure doesn't take away from this find. CRHing isn't as easy as people think, You have to know how to get and GET RID OF coin effectively. There is no need for such negativity.

There was no negativity....just a question I know how I would rather make banner...do you I knew some one like you would jump on this the wrong way.

There is no chance of finding British Silver floating around here, the only way to find them is by digging. Silver coins were taken out of circulation in the sixties. I meant nothing harsh in my reply, but there are a lot of folks on here, who have posted for years and not made the Banner...but I can see the attraction of maybe finding a rare coin by that way, just don't think it belongs up there...that's all.

I think people in the U.K. shouldn't be eligible for the banner, since their finds are all amazing to people in the U.S...

How about that?..

 

[Darth Walker]

Super Find. Congrats.

DW

 

[heepiepow]

Wow! Great find, and it's in really nice shape! LMAO at your wife's reaction, hehe. Grats on the banner

p.s. IMO treasure hunting means hunting treasure! Doesn't matter if with a detector or at a bank or flea market, or even buying storage lockers. The common thread in all these seems to be the thrill of the hunt and joy at the finds!

 

[coinshooter]

Nice! I reply to a post about halfway into this, this is also treasure hunting, just not with a detector.
My latest Coinworld mag for March list this in VF at $1200.
Sweet find, I'd have that puppy graded and slabbed by PCGS.

 

[sagittarius98]

I'd have that puppy graded and slabbed by PCGS.

I believe it is already en route to PCGS.

 

[AGCoinHunter]

Thats a amazing find! Can you post come close ups of the date/mm area? There are some diagnostics for this particular coin and this one being so rare is heavily counterfited. There are 3 possible variants to the 1909 S VDB and no more.

Unfortunately I don't have it available for any more pics right now. It is en-route to PCGS for authentication and grading.

The 3 diagnostics that I look for on an 09S VDB are:

1. Is crossbar of the B in VDB slanted upwards (not horizontal)
2. The serifs of the mintmark are upright and parallel to each other.
3. There is often times a small die chip in the upper loop of the S in the mintmark.

Mine meets 1 & 2. There is grime in the mintmark so I couldn't determine if the die chip is present.

Then of course there are general things to look at such as does the mint mark have the same wear pattern as the date, is the color around the mint mark consistent with the rest of the coin, is the mint mark the same height as the date and are there any scratches or other evidence of tooling around the mint mark. And finally the position of the mint mark in relation to the date can be another tell tale for determining authenticity. Both my coin dealer and I have a high degree of certainly that it is genuine. We'll know for sure in a couple of weeks.

what diagnostics are you referring to if they are different than what I use?

Im sorry, I misspoke. There are 4 possible mintmark locations on the 09S VDB. I tracked this down from another forum. From the look of the pictures yours appears to be #3. Still hard unless you have a nice zoomed in picture but hopefully this can help you some. I have attached the 4 locations.